Blink

Joe Dugandzic of Phoenix, AZ doesn't like to see the cost for driving his EV increase. So much so that he started a petition against a recent price hike by CarCharging Group, Inc. (which owns Blink) asking the company to reverse the increase.

The first public bite on Tesla open casting call for its electric vehicle patents has been made by CarCharging, which says it wants to integrate the California automaker's EV charging tech into the Blink Network. Now, this does not mean that Blink chargers will soon be able to Supercharge. Instead, Blink wants to add Tesla-capable adapters to its charging stations. CarCharging and Blink can do this because Tesla CEO Elon Musk has stated that, "Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyo

One distributor of ChargePoint electric-vehicle charging stations is making an offer some owners of Ecotality's Blink stations may not be able to refuse. National Car Charging will offer dual-port Blink station owners a $2,200 trade-in credit for ChargePoint's new CT400 station and a $1,200 trade-in credit for single-port Blink station owners, according to the website Dontblinknow.biz. ChargePoint was formerly known as Coulomb Technologies and started selling the CT400 this summer, which feature

Think of it as a plug-in pu pu platter, albeit a rather depressing one. That's the option cash-heavy investors with an eye for electrified light-duty vehicles had as charging-station maker Ecotality joined Fisker Automotive among entities whose assets were up for auction last week.

Investors have had enough of Ecotality, Inc., and are taking legal action. The Rosen Law Firm, PA, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ecotality stockholders in New York and the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, based in Bensalem, PA, is investigating potential claims on behalf of purchasers of Ecotality's securities. Both law firms are basing their claims on potential violations of federal securities laws between April 16, 2013 and August 9, 2013.

In Blink electric-vehicle charging-station maker Ecotality's case, less juice from the banks and government means less juice for its customers. A funding shortfall is forcing Ecotality to address a software glitch within approximately 12,000 stations by reducing the power they supply to plugged-in plug-in vehicles.

There have certainly been reports of problems with some Ecotality stations and projects, but the news out this week is bigger than anything we've seen before. Ecotality, the maker of Blink charging stations that is says have delivered over 98 million electric miles to customers so far, admits 2013 has been a tough year. Sales of the company's EVSEs (i.e., charging stations) were down, the planned Minit Charger was full of problems and thus will not be released as planned and now the DOE has susp

Ecotality is basically admitting that it doesn't know how much to charge for an EV fast charge. That's why the maker of Blink EV charging stations just started testing pricing models, posting on its blog that it would change pricing plans for US markets "on a regular basis." Ecotality will collect the data, measure usage and use that info to figure out the theoretical pricing sweet spot. It's a tough decision, because you can charge for the juice in any number of ways.

Kroger, whose supermarket chains include Ralph's and Food 4 Less, will add more than 225 Ecotality charging stations at stores throughout the western US to bring its total to almost 300. Ecotality makes plug-in vehicle charging stations under the Blink brand name, which some EV drivers have had problems with.

Two of the largest US makers of plug-in vehicle charging systems are embarking on a cooperative effort that certainly fits the stereotypical "peace and love" vibe sometimes associated with the green-car movement.

Portland, OR, is a smart place to go if you're in the car sharing or electric vehicle business. It's a town where it's cool to recycle, to embrace your eclectic or idiosyncratic side and to check out carsharing and electric vehicles.

Amid all the advancements to electric-powered vehicles and the stations that recharge them during the past few years, we can find plenty of reminders that we're still pretty new to all of this. In the latest case, the Honda Fit EV might not get along well with Ecotality's Blink charging stations. Specifically, Plug In Cars writer Colby Trudeau says his place of work has seven Blink charging stations, and that six of the 30-amp stations start overheating after about 20 minutes recharging his elec

Nissan Leaf owner Remy Tennant knows what it's like to be stranded at a Blink quick charger station. It happened to him last April in Belmont, CA, and he resolved to never let it happen again. Resolutions can be so hard to keep.

At this early point in the plug-in car era, there are bound to be some logistical imbalances. For example, there are currently only 270 electric vehicles registered in the state of Tennessee. Compare this to about 500 public electric vehicle chargers already installed there. That makes sense, yeah?